The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 323
322 Α'ΙΝΑ-Ε-ΚΑMĀLĀT-E-ISLAM-DAFI UL-WASĀWIS of wives at the same time, to consider it a great sin to have 2 or 3 wives together! Indeed, they consider it adultery and fornication. No family line can endure forever by confining itself to the prin- ciple of one wife for everyone. In fact, there is always someone in the family who encounters the difficulty that his wife turns out to be bar- ren and unable to have children. This shows that humanity has attained sustenance and endurance with the principle of polygamy. Had it been forbidden to have more wives than one, humanity would have come close to extinction by now. Research would demonstrate the degree to which this useful and blessed principle has protected humanity and how it has restored fertility to dwindling families, and how strongly this principle supports and helps righteousness. This blessed practice fully makes up for the deprivation of physical needs which man incurs as a result of the physiological limitations of women, like the periods of pregnancy, menstruation, and childbirth. It gives to the man his due right by reason of his nature. There are many other reasons which oblige a man to have more than one wife. For example, if the wife of a man becomes unpleasant to look at as the result of age or disease, the motivating power of the man, on which depends the activation of the woman's function, becomes inactive and suspended. But if the man is unattractive, the woman does not suffer, for the active power has been given to man and gratification of the woman rests in his hands. If a man's potency is weak or at fault, the woman, according to the Quranic teaching, can get a divorce. But if the husband is able to pro- vide full satisfaction, the woman cannot complain against his taking a second wife, for she is unable to meet the frequent needs of man, which establishes man's right to have a second wife. For those who are excep- tionally potent and of a righteous and pure temperament, this practice is not only lawful but necessary. Some of the opponents of Islam, fol- lowing their lustful inclinations, do all kinds of things, but they hate